Parent Night - Your guide to starting a meaningful relationship with your kids' moms and dads

As a one-to-one school, we make it a point to meet with parents face-to-face before we implement our program in the classroom. It sets the scene for a cooperative learning environment, both in school and at home. After all, it takes more than teachers to teach a child, and parents are where the kiddos are getting their most fundamental education. "It takes a village," as it were.

The primary reason for hosting a "Parent Night" is to review the rules and regulations set forth by our district with regard to one-to-one computing as well as the Acceptable Use Policy (AUP), as well as distribute the one-to-one participant contracts. When the kids are in the classroom, it's the responsibility of the teachers to monitor what they are doing with their technology tools. Once those kids leave campus with their iPads or MacBooks, etc., the responsibility falls to the parents/guardians. This, we emphasize several times throughout the discussion.

At our meeting this year, we created some PowerPoint slides to review the most basic policies established by our district, and we created a brochure with our class information. We included email addresses and phone numbers.  Using a QR code creator, we generated a QR code with this information so parents could download into their SmartPhones quickly and easily. Using the Remind101 application, we also had parents sign up for texts from teachers. Both tools are great for quick and easy communication.

While we have a prepared presentation, we like to conduct our parent meetings as an open forum, in which parents can ask questions about the one-to-one program and give us feedback on how they'd like to see the technology used. We don't always have the answers to their questions, but answer honestly. If we don't know, we will find out. Some frequently asked questions we have heard are:

• Is there a filtering system in place on the devices?
• What happens if my child's device is broken or stolen?
• Is there a "buy option" at the end of the program?
• When will students be receiving their devices/cases?
• Can we download things (apps, music, etc.) using our personal accounts?
• Can we buy our own case for the device?
• Is there insurance available?
• Why *our* kids? (Parents really want to know why their kids were selected to participate, even if it is school- or district-wide. Use this time to encourage parents and students. Let them know we're leading the kids into the future of learning and being leaders and problem solvers themselves!)

What if a parent can't make it to your Parent Night? It does happen. It happened to us this year, when a  a wicked wreck in Baton Rouge had parents in gridlock, unable to make it to our meeting after work. Offer up a few other pre-determined meeting times as "make up sessions" during your conference time or after school. We prefer meeting the parents at school as opposed to phone conferences. The face-to-face, in-person interaction really helps set the stage for parent/teacher collaboration and cooperation.

There will be parents that you never hear from. Parents that don't show up at all, don't respond to emails, phone calls, or written notes home. Keep trying. We always allow our kids to use the technology in class, even if their parents are incommunicado. The students appreciate the continued efforts, and they show it in their work during school hours.

Throughout the year, we maintain contact with our parents via our LMS, email, and the occasional phone calls. This is one of the most important relationships in your teaming and teaching. Foster it!

Article contributed by Jennifer Esneault